How Many Blog Posts Before Launch is Best? (what I do)
I love my blogs. They’re personal assets and creative projects. And one of the most exciting parts about blogging is hitting publish on that first post.
So how many blog posts before launch is best or normal?
The short answer is it depends. But a good average is to have around 10 blog posts planned and ready to go. Then again, launching with just one post also works.
There’s a lot of nuance to unpack, but here’s the takeaway: don’t stress too much.
Consistency and starting is way more important than over-planning or having the perfect launch schedule.
So with that, let’s get to it!
How Many Blog Posts Before Launch is Normal?
Most people are recommending launching a new blog with around 10-15 posts. But this isn’t some hard and fast rule.
“An imperfect start is way better than a perfect delay.”
Technically, you can launch your blog with zero posts. That's what I did with this blog. It’s more important that you have a content strategy, stick to a publishing schedule and build momentum.
Still, launching a new blog with a series of posts is a smart move. Here’s why:
Help Google understand and crawl your site quicker
Look more established and give initial readers more to explore
Launch with key pillar posts to link back to easily
Establish topic clusters for quicker topical authority
More posts = more traffic opportunities (more quickly)
Add clarity to your content strategy, branding and planning
It’s motivating to see your website getting filled
Explore more:
➤ Personal Blogging 101 (how to start)
How Many Blog Posts Should I Launch With? (5 tips)
1. Start With Keywords — Have a Plan
Before you start writing and publishing content, it’s important to make sure your topics aren’t totally random.
So whether you have 10 articles ready or just one, having a content and topic strategy will keep you organized and intentional.
Start with keyword research and create a content plan. You can learn how I choose good keywords here.
And as for content planning, create topics that build upon each other. This way, you can create topic clusters that turn into real topical authority.
So with that, let’s keep moving.
2. Choose Topics That Go Together
If you’re starting a new blog, focus on just one area at a time. This creates more trust, better organization and faster results.
Put another way, launch with articles that go together. Create a topical cluster of related articles and establish your authority.
And this goes deeper than just choosing topics within the same niche. For example, consider these two posts:
20 best things to do in Japan
How to travel the world on a budget: 6 steps
While these topics are related (they’re both in the travel niche), they’re also pretty different. One is about general travel in Japan while the other is about budget travel. So they have different audiences and require different clusters of articles.
These two topics would not be ideal to launch a blog with.
Instead, choose one of those topics and build related articles around it. For example:
How to travel the world on a budget
How to create a travel budget
Is it really possible to travel the world on $50 a day?
Money-saving travel tips I wish I knew earlier
X cheapest destinations for budget travelers
Hostels 101: The Complete Guide
X best travel backpacks under $100
Notice how these articles would start building real topical authority in the budget travel niche. It’s easier to interlink between the posts and each one flows into the next, creating a customer journey that readers can easily follow.
This would be a solid collection of articles to launch a blog with.
Explore more:
➤ Steal My Blog Content Strategy
3. Don’t Delay Because of Some Arbitrary Number
“When it comes to publishing new blog posts, I’d rather be slow and consistent over fast and inconsistent.”
It’s better to just hit publish than to over-plan and never share anything.
Planning too much can turn into inaction. Chances are, if this is your first blog, your first posts won’t be perfect. You’ll need to go back update them later as you grow and learn about your audience, writing style, SEO and more.
So it’s better to just get going and build momentum. Start first, figure out the nuances later.
Even if you push out ten posts all at once, your website is still new and won’t likely rank for at least a couple months (aside from super easy keywords or alternative traffic strategies).
It’s way better to get into the habit of publishing quickly. The sooner Google and potential readers can get to know you, the better.
Explore more:
➤ How Long Does it Take to Grow a Blog?
4. Drip Your Posts Out Slowly
Let’s say you have 10 blog posts ready to launch with. Is it better to push them all out at once on the same day or weekend, or drip them out slowly over the course of a few weeks?
Personally, I prefer to drip them out slowly over time. Here’s why.
Because slow and consistent is better than fast and inconsistent. This is better for building sustainable blogging habits and for potential readers.
Plus, publishers who mass publish can get penalized by Google if they flag you for generic AI fluff content.
(but this is usually an issue with much larger amounts than 10 posts)
5. Think Ahead
“Your blog launch is just the beginning. You’ll never stop publishing and updating posts.”
It’s smart to think ahead and look past your initial launch. Namely, what’s a realistic blogging schedule you can stick to?
When you first start writing online, it’s easy to think you can do it all. We all get a little too optimistic in the beginning — the honeymoon phase. But motivation wanes and consistency fluctuates.
So create a realistic content plan. For example, would you rather:
Publish once a week?
Publish multiple times a week?
Publish 1 ultimate guide and 4 shorter posts per month?
Personally, I try to publish new posts at least once a week. But I was doing 2-3 per week earlier on. And recently, I’ve been updating more than publishing new (which is equally important).
So just choose something that’s sustainable for you and built for the long term. With blogging success, there are no shortcuts.
Growth comes from consistently showing up, each week, and putting out epic content.
Later ✌️
An average number of blog posts to launch a new site with is around 10 — but starting with just one works fine too.
It’s more important to just get started and build momentum rather than over-planning or delaying.
But if you do decide to launch with multiple posts, it’s best to drip articles out slowly and choose topics that go together. This way, you can build topical authority and rank quicker.
But at the end of the day, remember that blogging is a long-game. It can take many months to start ranking content and even longer to create a sustainable income.
Still, it’s one of the best decisions I ever made. Blogging is a business asset and an epic creative project.
Whether you launch with one or twenty, you won’t regret it.
FAQs
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It depends on your goals and lifestyle. But a good average number is around 10 posts. Still, it's more important to just get started and be intentional. So have a keyword plan, focus on building momentum and stick to a consistent schedule. This is more important than any arbitrary number.
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At least once a week is my recommendation. But if you can swing more, do it. Especially earlier on when you're trying to build your content library out and establish authority. The quicker you can publish, the faster you see results (that is, if the keywords and content strategy are good).
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Keep things simple and use blog post templates. You can find many for free online. Or you can research other successful bloggers in your niche to get some ideas.
But here's an example of a blog structure I often use:
H1: Title
H2: What is (keyword)
H3: Benefits of (keyword)
H3: Examples of (keyword)
H2: How to do (keyword)
H3: Tip/Step 1
H3: Tip/Step 2
H3: Tip/Step 3
H3: Tip/Step 4
H3: Tip/Step 5
H3: Tip/Step 6
H2: Conclusion
